Teachers and Me (The Elementary Years)

My Second Grade Class. See the board with the eight figures in a circle? One of them was mine.

It was about members of the community and I drew a nurse.

Notice I'm right in front of the teacher's desk in the center? I look pretty cocky in my Brownies uniform!

I'm one of the few people I know that really enjoyed going to school. To me it was one long social experiment in Teacher/Student Relations. I really loved elementary school. We lived in a small community outside of a small town in North Carolina. We had two country stores, a volunteer fire department and an elementary school. The stores, and school were the sites of all community happenings. The firehouse could be rented for parties (my awesome 9th birthday party, in third grade, was held there - people talked about it for years) and they held an annual barbecue there. The Halloween carnival at the school every year was THE EVENT of the year. The school baseball field was also where the community Little League team practiced and played home games. And my Dad was the coach.

In first grade I shared being teacher's pet with my friend Cathy. I really hated writing and Cathy did most of my writing for me. It's not that I didn't understand words or letters - I was one of the best readers in the class - I just hated the actual physical part of writing. I'm sure the teacher must have known what was going on, but she never said a word. In second grade I was a MAJOR teacher's pet. My second grade teacher, Mrs. Lane actually gave me a gold bracelet (although I doubt it's real gold) when I finished sixth grade. I still have it. I believe my third grade teacher, knowing I had been teacher's pet for two years (it was a very small school), decided to teach me the harsh realities of life and consequently treated me like crap. It was shocking and disturbing after being so pampered by my first two teachers. I acted out a bit and used to spend lots of time making fun of her. In my innocent youth, making fun of her went like this: "I bet Mrs. Parker is George Washington's grandmother!"

My fourth grade teacher was a true anomaly: She treated EVERYONE exactly the same. I think I only ever had one other teacher like that. But that was not until my senior year in high school. And while she treated everyone with absolutely no interest whatsoever, the high school teacher treated everyone as if they were ALL the teacher's pet. He was an awesome teacher. He had even had a day named for him by the city of Fort Worth a year or two before I moved here. My fourth grade teacher was morbidly obese and I used to get distracted thinking, "Her ankle is bigger than my thigh." I wonder if she ever noticed me constantly looking back and forth between her ankles and my thighs? I saw her at my dance recital that Christmas and she acted like she didn't even know me. I walked right up to her and asked why she was there. She pointed to her daughter, who went to another school and was MY AGE! I don't know why that freaked me out. I guess because most teachers that had kids lived in the neighborhood and we knew who they were.

My fifth grade teacher gave me the crook-eye on the first day of school. She was the first teacher I encountered that had had my brother as a student. Although this didn't happen often, as we moved and there was a four year difference, I found it to be a mixed blessing. This was 1971 and the year they started busing. It was the topic of conversation all summer that they were going to bus in all these black kids from Fremont. There had only been three black kids in my class before this: Jody and Phillip, boy and girl twins that were the children of a wealthy black dentist, and Peggy, a very poor, very quiet girl. (Mrs. Lane, the teacher in the picture was always sneaking her bags of clothes and things.) Suddenly there were all these black kids that didn't want to be there. My fifth grade teacher was also black and I don't know if that helped or not, but there was a lot of tension. I talked to my Dad about it and he told me to figure out who the leader was and make friends with her. I can spot the alpha person easily and knew it was Belinda. I took his advice to heart and started making small talk with her whenever I could. The true breakthrough came the day of the talent show. When I pulled out my ballet costume in the bathroom, the Fremont girls went crazy. They loved the bright colors, the sequins and just the very glamour of the thing. I asked Belinda to help me get dressed. And that was the end of the racial tension. RIGHT THERE. I don't know what sort of student my brother had been for Mrs. Smith, but she always liked me after that.

Sixth grade was all sorts of weird. The brother thing? Well, this teacher, Mrs. Howell, had LOVED my brother. And my brother is a truly gifted artist. For some reason Mrs. Howell must have thought artistic talent was evenly spread amongst families because she put me in charge of two bulletin boards in the room and one in the school's hall. The long board at the back of the room was always a Grandma Moses picture, like the one above, that we would distort to fit a long bulletin board. We were allowed to work on these boards DURING class. Fortunately I was allowed to pick a team. I wasn't stupid. Most people would have picked their friends. Not me. I picked the three best artists. I didn't want Mrs. Howell to know I didn't really have any artistic talent. Since I was in charge, I would tell everyone what they were going to work on. In this picture, for instance, I would have assigned myself the stream, bridge, and cabin in the upper right. I usually had Marty and Bruce draw the people and Donnell would have done the rest. My friend Cathy, the same one from first grade (she had moved away after first grade and just moved back) was furious that I didn't pick her to help. I wish I had pictures of those Grandma Moses boards. The small board in the room was the holiday board and I did that myself. I don't really remember what the one in the school hallway was about because we only did it twice. Probably something peppy for visitors coming into the school. Mrs. Howell was always happy with "my" work. She was such an elegant classy lady. I can still see her sitting up on her stool. A true Southern Belle.

Sixth grade was also the year when select students got to spend spring days in the library helping the librarian inventory the books. It was practically a rite of passage to be selected to sort and catalogue books in the spring. Well what happened was, they started a special program called "Special Achievers" that year. Every morning at 10:30, I had to leave my regular class and go to another room for an hour where I was joined by another sixth grader, two fifth graders, three fourth graders and a third grader. We did special field trips, learned how to write a research paper, took apart a lawnmower and other weird things. I kind of enjoyed the SA class, until spring. Well the library thing and the SA class were at the same time. I raised hell. I had to go into the principal's office. They finally made a concession that I could skip SA and work in the library once a week. The principal tried to explain how special the Special Achiever's program was. Then he said, "I probably shouldn't tell you this, but you scored higher on the standardized tests than anyone in the history of this school." He was right. He shouldn't have told me.

My Digital Camera and Other Stuff

First things first: My BIL was unexpectedly released from the hospital on Friday (they had been told it would be Saturday or Sunday). He had developed a bad staph infection around the incision on his head, but they sent him home with a PICC line in his inside upper arm. It's a sort of catheter-type device used for people that need regular injections. He will need regular antibiotic injections for four weeks, but they will not need a nurse to stop in since he is a paramedic and can do it himself. He sounds like his old self on the phone and is SO GLAD to be home.

I finally got my digital camera last week, but took a while to get around to figuring it out. This is the first picture I took. I had to crop it funny for this post because SOMEONE had not mowed in quite some time. (He blames the rain.) It's a Canon Powershot SD1000. It's TINY! I already lost it twice. The first time I had set it back in the box and couldn't see it. The second time I lost it, I was looking through the box again with my right hand when I realized it was in my left hand. It's about the size of a cigarette box. I told my best friend I should probably keep it in a Camel Lights box. I'd be less likely to lose it that way. That would also seem like a good place to hide it except cigarettes are so expensive these days.

Today we did our Annual Cat Room Spring Cleaning. I've mentioned my cat room before but I think it was over a year ago. People think I'm weird for having a cat room, and by people, I mean anyone that knows I have a cat room. It works for me. Cats are a rambunctious sort and if they were allowed to run free at night, I would wake up every time they did anything. ANYTHING. Also, I HAVE to sleep with my door closed and the cats would take turns crying and scratching to get in the room with us. Another reason is that cats are more likely to puke within the first hour or two of eating, so if they are going to puke, it's going to be in the room with the sealed concrete floor, not all over the house on my carpet or hardwood floor. Maybe I should have done bullet points, because I could keep going about why I have a cat room. Anyway, we did the BIG cleaning today and it took me THREE HOURS! In the middle of the room is a big green indoor/outdoor rug, so we took that out to the deck and sprayed it with anti-bacterial dishwashing soap mixed with water and then power sprayed it down with the hose. We vaccumed and swept and sneezed, oh my. Then I scrubbed the place down with Lysol. We threw some of the old stuff out and rearranged some stuff. And although I did it TODAY, I have some pictures because I have a digital camera now. Woo-hoo!

We moved the shelf out from the corner and stuck that cat house thing there. The cats like to get up high to look out the window.

I threw out the old sheet that was on the ottoman and covered it with a piece of old shower curtain (a cloth one) that I had been saving for a drop cloth or something. I used binder clips in the corners to keep it in place. I went ahead and cut out another one so that when this one gets icky, I'll toss it and have one ready.

This is the "food court." I like to keep a little separation between the food and water bowl or food somehow ends up in the water. I still haven't figured out how that happens.

This is Jake's bed. He likes to sleep up high (but not too high) on a pillow that has no room for the other cats to join him. The carpet is still drying out on the deck, but that should be back in tomorrow. The litter box is in the closet behind that yellow door. There are some large cardboard boxes in there with little doors and windows cut out, but they were not very photogenic - not that this other stuff was. I just thought people would want to know what the hell a cat room is.

Adventures in Babysitting

AJ and Me in September 2004

(I don't remember my hair being that short!)

~

Last night was crazy and fun. My SIL has been almost living at the hospital since June 4th and she has 3 kids. Along with all the trauma of her husband's three brain surgeries, she has also been working crazy logistics moving all three kids around to various places. She finally hit a snag on Tuesday for AJ (aged 3) for Wednesday night. I said, "I'll keep him!" I think that once the words left my lips, it scared both of us. But being two crazy people we decided it was a good idea. A lot of you wouldn't think twice about keeping a three-year-old for the night, but me? Not so much a kid person. I knew it would be an adventure. I think the last time I spent the evening with a three-year-old was when my daughter was three and she'll be twenty-three in August. Some of the highlights:

• About 10 minutes into his bath he announced that he needed to "get out and pee-pee." I was very impressed because I had to watch my daughter like a hawk - she really really enjoyed peeing in the bathtub.
• I forgot about how "whys" three-year-olds are. The one that floored me was once he asked where Uncle "My Sweetie" was. I said, "He's in the bathroom." AJ asked, "Why?" I didn't even have a good answer. It's not a question I am often asked.
• When AJ got out of the tub and I dried him, I said, "Oh, your clothes are still in the living room." He took off naked for the living room and My Sweetie ran in and closed the front door. That still makes me laugh. God forbid a neighbor would pass by and see a naked three-year-old!
• AJ has the attention span of a gnat. It took longer to get the coloring book and open the crayons than it did for him to color. He colored a boy's pants leg blue - about a 1" X 1/4" area and he was done.
• My Sweetie keeps an old New Year's eve horn on the end table to blow at Rufus when he attacks Jake (he is not a yeller. MY Sweetie, I mean. Jake, he can yell.) and AJ found it. Yeah that was fun. He REALLY liked blowing the horn. As smart as I am it took about 15 minutes to come up with a good enough distraction to sneak the horn away. I quickly tossed it behind my back to My Sweetie and it disappeared. AJ forgot all about it until this morning, but I was honestly able to tell him I didn't know where it was.
• He wanted to watch Charlotte's Web but got bored after about 20 minutes so I gave him my bucket of little plastic farm animals. He got a kick out of matching the little animals with the characters. Then he wanted to watch Happy Feet. He got restless after about 10 minutes so I gave him two stuffed penguins to play with. I wonder if he thinks I have toys to go with every kid movie?
• He kept saying how soft our couch was so I thought that was a hint. I made his little bed on the couch, but he kept getting up and running around. I had already decided to sit with him until he went to sleep. Being the clever cat that I am I realized that "Frasier" was about to come on. I thought "If anything will put a three-year-old to sleep, I bet it's 'Frasier'." Don't get me wrong. I love the show. I think I own every season on DVD, but two men in suits discussing opera tickets? I just felt it would do the trick. Well it came on at 11:00. I switched over. Two minutes later AJ looked up at me and said, "I really like sleeping on your very soft couch." Then he rolled over to face the back of the couch. He was sound asleep at 11:07.
• This last part is CRAZY. I went to bed at 12:30!! (In case you don't know, when I "go to bed early" it's 2:00 a.m.) I was tired.

Lisa picked up AJ around 9:15 this morning. After they left, I remembered picking my daughter up from my Mom's house one time when Kate was about 3. Mom had kept Kate for the whole weekend (a VERY rare occurrence) and was ABSOLUTELY FRAZZLED when I got there. She said, "How do you do this??!! I couldn't get anything done. I couldn't even cook dinner. "StepDad" had to go out for food both nights!" I remember thinking she was silly. I said, "Mom you had TWO kids and you cooked dinner every night." She said, "But I'm a lot older now and don't have that energy." I really just thought she was being silly as hell. I get it now.

The Flooding Here

Because I was out all day on Monday, I missed all the news and had no idea how bad the flooding was late Sunday/early Monday, but the stories were picked up as far away as Canada. The Skyline Mobile Home park is the place I've mentioned a few times over the years in my blog. I ranted about the roads back in September 2005, and it is also the place where "Lenny and Squiggy" lived. I didn't see "Lenny" much after that post and I think it has been maybe two months since I delivered there. The bad news is "Lenny" lived AT THE VERY BOTTOM of that hill. By the creek. The creek that flooded. As bereft as he was after losing "Squiggy," if he was still there, he has now lost EVERYTHING. I'm going to contact MOW and see if they know anything. I can't even drive by there tomorrow because the place is closed to anyone that is not a resident and they have to show identification to get in. It's almost too much to think about. And a 4-year-old girl died there. Now I feel bad for ever making fun of the place. I think over almost 7 years, I've delivered to about 5 different homes there. Not anymore. The mayor is shutting the place down.

(Why is blogger so ornery tonight? My second link is showing up underneath my original post. Aaargh!)

About My BIL

This is the e-mail my SIL sent out tonight:


Dear Firefighter family and friends,

[BIL] had his surgery this morning as planned. The doc found a blockage in the shunt, cleared it out, and repositioned it. He seemed pleased with today's outcome.

[BIL] looked pretty good right after surgery in ICU. He called around 10 p.m. and asked if I would come up for a visit. He looked really good (considering) and was in good spirits. He said his head hurt alot but that it was just from the surgery, not like the pain he was having before. He said it felt different. Hopefully that's a good sign. I'm not sure how long he'll be in ICU, but I'll let you boys know as soon as he gets to a room.

Once again, thanks for your love, support and prayers!

Love to you all,
Lisa

Some New York Pics

This is me standing in front of the Hudson Bay at

Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park. I LOVED that place!

This isn't that bad for a disposable camera. The view through
the binoculars was GREAT!

This is looking to the left from the park. The park is on
the west side of the bottom tip of Manhattan,
so this picture is looking eastish.

This is looking to the right or west from where I was sitting in the park.

The open part where I was in front of the Statue of Liberty

was between these two areas.

Although the timing wasn't right to try to do the stage door autograph thing with Kevin Spacey, I was still stalking him in my own way.
He was actually inside performing when this was taken!

I wish someone had told me that I looked like I had just taken

a curler out of my bangs before this was taken!

The blue thing in my hand is the T-shirt I had just bought
for my BIL at this fire station.

It was closed but I took a picture anyway.

I LOVE this picture. The beads were in the doorway of the little alcove with the ice machine and soft drink machine. We had just walked out of the room and I jumped back there and said 'Take my picture!" Then some people came down the hall and I jumped out of there and hurried along.
~
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Some side notes: We didn't get to see Lisa, my SIL today after all, but My Sweetie talked to her and she managed to have a VERY long sleep, so I'm very happy that she got some rest. I haven't been able to talk to her yet to find out why BIL finally consented to the third surgery. I just hope they get the shunt positioned correctly this time and he can make a full recovery.
~

On a lighter note, we had a salad with dinner tonight which included our very first homegrown tomatoes. I didn't expect them to be so tasty since we've had so much rain, but they were yummy.

Get Well Soon, BIL!

I was going to do my New York pictures tonight but I'm kinda blue and not in the mood. My brother-in-law, the fireman that makes the great shrimp boils and had brain surgery last week, had some complications, was re-admitted, had a second brain surgery on Monday, and has just today been moved out of ICU. So I'm not in the mood to chat or make funnies. We will see him tomorrow and if he feels better, I'll feel better.

Fun With Photoshop

In honor of Jazz posting her first picture of herself, and my New York trip, I thought I would turn Jazz, Josie and myself into Rockettes. Okay, I just felt like doing something weird. But it was fun. (And we have awesome legs.)

The pre-pictures post about NY

No, I didn't attend Kevin Spacey's play. I found this ticket in the bathroom of the bar next to the theater. The ticket was for 2:00 and it was 3:30, so I figured it was okay to keep it as a souvenir. I couldn't help wondering what happened to the person who left their ticket in the bathroom, though. Do you suppose they were able to get in?

My plane was late getting in on Friday and the driver was not waiting for me. He may have gone out to smoke. Meanwhile the car service and my husband were freaking out thinking I was lost. I never felt lost. When I didn't see my driver, I simply walked over to my luggage carousel, went out for a smoke then came back in to the place where the drivers hang out. And then he was there.

It was rush hour so the normally short ride to the hotel was not that. I didn't mind. I liked the scenery, but I really did want a cold beer. Once I finally got to the hotel I had about 15 minutes to get ready for dinner, so a shower was out, but there was beer on ice in the room (YAY!). I put on my new clothes, freshened my face and tried to make my hair presentable. We went down to the bar to wait for Kevin and his date and after a drink realized they may not know to meet us in the bar. Sure enough the phone rang and they were waiting outside. We went to Mulberry Street (best known as Little Italy) for dinner. The street is closed off on the weekends so walking around was easy. We went to Angelo's and got a little table outdoors. Kevin pulled out all the stops so we had all sorts of stuff from appetizers to desert and of course a bottle of wine. I had some buffalo mozzarella (awesome!) and then for my main course I had a baked stuffed artichoke. Kevin's friend Diana was a real joy. She was very cute and animated and reminded us of Holly Hunter. Those were the best hours of the whole trip. We could not have been in better company. After a LONG time at Angelo's we went to our rooms for a few minutes and changed into jeans and met again and walked to the Broome Street Bar, where we continued our loud laughing and talking party. I was sad when the night came to a close, but we were all tired.

Saturday started out nice. I think Robert F. Wagner Jr. park must be the best-kept secret in NY. If I had had time I could have spent hours there. The harbor view was breathtaking. There were day cruises passing by alongside yachts and sailboats. And The Lady was out there in full view. We had lunch al fresco and again it was a great meal. My meal included tempura battered red pepper strips and I think they should be a staple at all restaurants that serve fried finger foods. They came with my fish and chips. The Jewish museum was closed, which makes sense because Saturday is their Sabbath. We took a cab from there to Times Square and sometime shortly thereafter My Sweetie decided without warning to apply for a name change to: My Boring Stick-In-The Mud Husband That I Was Stuck With for the Rest of the Afternoon. Example: Me, "Oh here's a nice bar, I'm going to stop in for a beer and rest my feet." He, "(Siiiiiiggggghhhhhh) What time is it?" I pretty much decided to ignore him after a few of those lovely exchanges and just amuse myself. We went by the Atinson Theater, where I posed with a poster of Mr. Spacey. Then we ran across a fire station (or ladder company as they're called there) and picked up a T-shirt for my brother-in-law the firefighter that just had brain surgery. Hello Deli was closed but we took some pictures and the CBS store was next to it so I got a Letterman Show T-shirt. We caught a cab to the Boathouse in Central Park and it was the only time I had to stand in line for a bathroom, the whole visit. I grabbed a beer at the bar to drink while I waited in the long line. Then I ambled over to the piano player and had him play "Unforgettable," while I finished my beer. That's my "Dad Song," and I teared up a bit because I missed my Dad and MBSITMH was irritating the hell out of me. We walked from there to the Met.

I had no idea the Met was going to be that big (and SO LOUD). It was HUGE (or as Donald Trump would say, "Yooge!"). After a long while visiting ancient Egypt, I decided to head for the rooftop bar. That Man I Was With decided to visit Greece and Rome and meet up with me later, which was FINE with me. When I got up there the view was so spectacular my first thought was to call him and tell him what he was missing, but then I remembered I was mad at him and decided it would bring me evil pleasure to tell him about it at some far distant point in the future. Well oddly enough he showed up about 4 minutes after I got there. He may have sensed at this point that if we split up, he might not see me again for 6 hours. And I HAD thought about it. After my beers and smokes I headed to my favorite section which is old European portraiture. I LOVE that stuff. After staring into the faces of old dead people for a couple of hours, which doesn't sound as good on paper as it actually was, I decided it was time to head back to the room, change clothes and find some dinner. We did have a long talk after dinner and I told him how he sucked the joy right out of my day. He had a million different explanations, but the most important part is that he was sincerely contrite.

Sunday was just about getting ready and going to the airport. The weather could not have been better the whole weekend. I was never chilly or hot. Being outside at home today in the hot muggy Texas weather made me realize how great the weather had been there. I had a good time, but I'll always wish I had had a better time. At least I have Friday night and the great art and spectacular views to remember. I'm glad I'm home though. I'll have all my pictures Wednesday night. I took almost two rolls.

New York, New York and Eye Drops

The New York trip is almost upon me. My Sweetie is going tomorrow and I'm leaving Friday morning. I said I was going to talk about celebrities. Well, what happened was, after I found out we were staying at the Soho Grand I noticed it was in every People magazine. Unfortunately, the "celebrity" names were young girls more famous for being wasted or wearing tiny jean shorts in a redneck car movie. One of My Sweetie's co-workers did ride in an elevator there with John Malkovich. And Josie said she saw Tom Hanks in Central park. I had hoped to see some high caliber celebs. Kevin Spacey, my all time favorite male actor (along with Jimmy Stewart), is there this weekend and I'm thinking about trying to see him at the stage door. The only thing is, I once ran into Bette Midler and I was a total blathering idiot. What with my anxiety and panic disorder, I'm afraid if I actually SEE Kevin Spacey I'll just slobber or stutter or something. Or have a heart attack. And what if I'm actually in the elevator with a famous person? I think I'd react like Niles Crane in "Frasier" when he meets up with the old high school homecoming queen.

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Yeah, I know they are "just people," but how often do you spend two hours or $8 to watch a "just people" perform in a movie? I'm at the point now where I hope I DON'T see any celebrities. Except Kevin Spacey. He's awesome.

~

Other stuff: My brother-in-law had brain surgery Monday morning and had a seizure at the end of surgery and then another one in post-op. It's a Texas law that you can't drive for 6 months after a seizure. He's a fireman/paramedic. He and my sister-in-law had their house up for sale and her ex-husband has served her with papers over custody of their two shared children which includes an injunction over the sale of their house. Man, she is going through hell.

~

One of my Meals on Wheels ladies called me yesterday and asked if I would bring her some allergy eye drops. I brought them and then SHE WANTED ME TO PUT THEM IN. That creeped me out but I did it. She's the same lady that I installed a bathroom faucet for on the Tuesday after Memorial Day weekend although I just realized I didn't post about it. I have three bruises from that. It was a very tight little vanity.

~

I woke up to thunder on Sunday (yawn, again?) and realized the house was crazy quiet. I got up and My Sweetie told me the power had been out for a couple of hours. I went back to sleep for a couple of hours, got up, realized the power was STILL out, stumbled into the garage and put about 10 beers into an ice chest with a bag of ice (we keep all our drinks in a fridge in the garage). He said, "Well it's good you have your priorities straight." The power was out for about 7 hours, but I had cold beer.

The New Bathroom

This is the ugly purple wallpaper from hell. And if anyone reading this has this wallpaper, I do NOT apologize for saying that. This is HIDEOUS! Get rid of it AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. And that border. What the hell?!?

This is my new green sponged wall. I moved the towel rack to the other end of the tub, because unlike most people, when I sit in a bathtub, I do not want to gaze upon a towel. That bright spot is from the skylight. I didn't really notice it at the time.

I have to admit it is hard to take pictures in there because it's all angly (angley?) but this was taken a little farther back than the one above. Now when I sit in the tub I can look at pictures of Muir Woods. Guess what time I took this picture?

I took this next picture while standing in the bathtub. I love my new mirrors. There used to be a whole wall mirror there, but I went with the small framed mirror, because it's the cool thing to do. And this is also a good view of how the new color looks against the new shower.

Speaking of the new shower, here is a good shot of the light in there:

This last picture is of the one unfinished space around the toilet where the mural that I mentioned here will go.

Next I need to replace the faucets with the same ones I put in the other bathroom. I mentioned it here. And there's a picture of the faucet there because I have apparently reached my picture limit on this post. I hope you enjoyed my before and afters.

I found some good NY clothes today and my BIL survived his brain surgery so I have lots to post about this week before my NY trip.

Crafty Me

This is a picture I found on ebay, but it looks sort of like a shelf I am about to discuss. I can't remember when I first got that shelf and I don't even remember the original color, but I have a shelf kinda like that. Mine is wicker and has some sort of open weave ribbon as the linings around the edges. I may have posted before about how many times I have moved (A LOT). I would paint that thing to match wherever I was and I always used it in a bathroom. My first specific memory of it is when I rescued it again.

When I left my first husband I didn't take much: just my Granny's bedroom furniture, a chair, and some special Christmas ornaments. A year or two later after his current wife moved in, I pulled up to the house to pick up my daughter and there was a giant pile of "junk" sitting out front for the garbage men. Right on top was that old shelf, so I snatched it up and stowed it in my car before I even knocked on the door. I think it was white then, but I'm not sure.

I believe I painted it a light shade of brown and just set it on the toilet tank in my second husband's house. I had one of those telephone booth bathrooms at the time: tiny shower, toilet and sink coming out of the wall, with no vanity. That was probably in the very early '90's. When My Sweetie, my daughter and I moved in together in January '96, we all had our own bathrooms. Mine was all black tile with pearl-like "marbling" through it. That's when I painted the shelf black.

We moved into an apartment in the early summer of '98, and because the apartment had no color scheme, I did not re-paint that shelf. I don't even remember where it was in that apartment, but then again, I only lived there for about 4 months before my Dad died, and although I've mentioned that my Dad died at his retirement party, I still haven't posted about it, so I don't have a link, but suffice it to say, I wasn't quite myself for a long time.

I didn't realize this story was going to have such a long shelf-life (ouch, ouch! worst pun ever!!) Okay so we moved here and if you have followed any of my stories about the HORRID PURPLE WALLPAPER FROM HELL, then you will understand why I didn't repaint the shelf, because WHY ON EARTH WOULD I TRY TO MATCH CRAP? So getting to today: I was thinking, "Okay, if I want to put this shelf back up, I will need to paint it brown or something." Because my new bathroom is all about Muir woods and the forest, the black shelf, it does not match. Well what happened was, I pulled out my crafty paints and found one called "metallic solid bronze." I "dry brushed" that bronze paint over that black wicker and it came out looking really cool. It won't be in the "after" pictures though, because they were already taken. Oh and I will have those tomorrow! Yay.

Cool Moon

If you have 3D glasses, and who doesn't, this moon looks really cool. There is a much larger picture here. I check NASA's "Astronomy picture of the day" or "APOD" post EVERY day (there's a link there on the right). I love that stuff. Every once in a while they have an anaglyph (That's a fancy NASA word for 3D because being NASA people they have to use sciencey sounding words), so I keep my 3D glasses in the pen cup right here next to my beer. For some reason, I also tried looking at it with the glasses turned around, meaning blue on the left and red on the right and guess what I saw? Yep, it was going the other way. And if you are wondering where to get 3D glasses, I'm guessing a book store or comic book store. Enjoy!

The End Is Near

I took this picture in Muir Woods in the summer of 2001. It is the picture I selected for my little mural that will go behind the toilet in my bathroom. I am so glad that room is almost done. I started tearing down the wallpaper last June, took a break because of the summer heat, started again, broke my foot, took another break for Christmas, then I tore my MCL, took a small break while my shower was being replaced, and now, it is finally almost done. Today I put up the new mirrors. Last weekend we put up the closet doors which were very freaking heavy (they are mirrored). I was going to wait to say anything until I took the after pictures, but I got excited making the mural picture. The mural wallpaper guy was very nice and helpful. I have to call him back tomorrow to figure out how to send the VERY LARGE mural file. And the sponging? It is gorgeous! It came out even better than I imagined. Now I'm just at the decorating stage. I should have pictures very soon. Oh and I want to caulk around the vanity backsplashes, but I'm not in a hurry and that won't really show up in the pictures anyway. I also framed a cute little watercolor print we got at Muir Woods and I'm going to fill a nice multi-pic frame with Muir Woods photos to go over the tub. Uhm, did I mention the whole theme/decor thing for the bathroom was "Forest?" When I showed My Sweetie the picture for the mural he made a slightly crude but funny joke. Something like, "It will be like being in the woods. We'll be bears."

The Velcro Mystery

John Glenn in the Friendship 7

(Thanks to osu.edu)

Velcro. What David letterman always refers to as "The miracle fabric of the '80s." It's funny to think that velcro was once new to me, and yet, so many young people have never known a world without it. The odd thing is I SHOULD have known about it all my life.

I recently acquired a big pile of old National Geographics. I was reading through a June 1962 article about John Glenn's famous orbit around the Earth in the Friendship 7. This passage really caught my attention:

"The inside of the capsule hatch is covered with a pad of fabric lined with thousands of miniature loops. Each piece of equipment has its own pad with countless tiny hooks.

On the ground the camera would be too heavy to hang on the door, but, weightless, it needs only to be pushed against the pad, and it sticks like a burr in lamb's wool."

And that's all it had to say about that. No mention whatsoever of the word "velcro" and, you know, they were actually EXPLAINING what velcro is. So NASA was using velcro in 1962. I was BORN in 1961. Why did it take so long for me to hear about velcro? Was it a secret?

Getting Excited About My Trip (Ya Think?)

The Loeb Boathouse in Central Park

I couldn't sleep this morning and My Sweetie was playing a video game on the TV so I decided to do some more perusing of New York stuff. It will be a very short trip so I want to pack in as much as possible without it feeling like work. I think I have a plan now. (I'm too casual to call it an itinerary, besides I don't want to look up how to spell it. It looks okay to me, though.) My plane will land on Friday (the 8th) at 4:10. This seems like a very bad traffic time, so I have no idea how long it will take to get to the hotel (and did I mention our hotel has smoking rooms! It's the only place we will be able to smoke indoors in the whole city). The good news is I will have a car and driver to meet me. That's so much better than having to get a cab. One of My Sweetie's business associates is going to take us out to dinner so that will also be nice: No thinking on our part. No plans after that. It will be a VERY long day for me, so I'm hoping to go to bed early (for me) because Saturday is our only real day there.

~

My Saturday plans are to wake up, get ready, and grab a cab for Robert F. Wagner Jr. park. There we should have great harbor views (meaning Ellis Island and Liberty Island) and I'm going to take my binoculars. We will also visit the Museum of Jewish Heritage, which will probably make me cry, but that's okay. Next, we will take a cab back to our hotel to rest my feet, smoke and drink some beers (Hey it's MY vacation too!) and drop off the binoculars. Times Square will be our next stop, because although I did the whole New Year's Eve on Times Square back in 1978, My Sweetie has never been to New York. That's also why we are going to go to that park to see the Statue of Liberty - I went all the way up it back then. Thank goodness he hates boats and doesn't actually want to take the ferry over there. (Wow. I never thought I'd appreciate the fact that he hates boats. I LOVE boats.) After Times Square we are off to the Loeb Boathouse in Central Park - for more drinking of course. The view. I meant we are going there for the view. We plan to walk from there through Central Park to the Met. We LOVE art museums. I imagine we will be there for many hours. And did I mention it has a bar? Actually I think it has two or three. How perfect is that? Look at fine art, have a glass of wine, look at fine art, have a beer. I could do that for hours. And the museum is open until after 8:00 p.m. That's the part of the trip I am most looking forward to. After that, we have no plans at all. We don't even have dinner plans. I like it like that.

~

Sunday, we really won't have much time between check-out and having to get to the airport, so we'll probably find a nice outdoor cafe to relax and rest our feet. It will go by pretty quickly, so I hope to take good pictures. My next post about this trip will be about our hotel and celebrities. Oh NO!!!

Art Envy

Envy is one of the seven deadly sins, but I must admit to art envy. When I see posts by people of their paintings (and you know who you are!) I'm a bit jealous. I can't help it. I grew up with a big brother that could sketch anything he saw. My brother is an incredible artist, although he's done NOTHING with it. If I had his talent, oh well, I'll not go there. The painting above is an oil of my Dad, done by an old friend of mine. She did it in 1992. He never had it framed so when he died suddenly in 1998, my brother and I decided to have it framed for his memorial service. His service was on Friday afternoon. We went to a frame shop on Thursday. We walked in, picked out the perfect frame and they said, "Okay, this will be ready on Monday." I burst into tears, explained our situation and they said, "Well can you come back in 2 hours?" It just so happened there was a Chili's in the same parking lot, so that was not a problem. But I digress.

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I guess I'm just naturally attracted to artists. Most of the stuff in my house is by people I know and love. I even have a rare (or the only) oil painting in existence by my Mom. I have a lovely pastel by my step-mother and a few drawings by my brother. I have THREE paintings by the artist that painted my Dad, including one of her self-portraits. She and I met in a ballet class and took several dance classes over the years. Unfortunately we lost touch about 4 years ago. She's a professional artist and her paintings are very expensive so I guess I got lucky (although Dad did pay for his portrait). His portrait now hangs in a prominent spot in our library. I have pictures of that somewhere.

~

Back to art envy. To be fair to myself, I can be creative. Some of my stuff: killer personalized birthday cards, bathroom wall sponging, a nice shadowbox frame of Hawaii mementos, a really cool panda and bamboo drawing on the thigh of a pair of old jeans (yes, it was the early 90's) and my very favorite: I used S-shaped styrofoam packing peanuts and gold acrylic paint to replace a missing corner of a gold ornate frame on an old painting of my Dad (not the one above). The thing is, I can't just paint a picture of something. So even though it's a deadly sin, I have to tell you artists that I am jealous. Okay now I have to show you one big thing I painted. Several houses ago, my daughter's closet door and bedroom door were next to each other in the corner. I decided to paint this Snoopy and Charlie Brown on the doors (you can see the doorknobs). So this is my one painting:

Population: 2?

Everybody has that little voice in their head. I don't mean the one Oprah calls God. I mean that innocuous little voice that says things to you like "Don't forget to water the plants today." or "After this, you should unload the dryer before you clean the kitchen." Sometimes the little voice is very helpful and inventive like "Maybe you should add some fresh minced green peppers to that." This voice is also called your "internal dialogue." Today mine was a little weird. I was getting ready to go to the grocery store and I said (in my head) "Well do you want to stop by Papa G's for a beer on the way to the grocery store?" And then the answer (also in my head) was, "I don't care, it's up to you." If that wasn't weird enough, I then said (OUT LOUD) "Hey! There's only one person here!"
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On the other hand, I also tried to turn down the TV with the phone today.

Pictures, I have Pictures!

This one was taken on my birthday. This is Kate and me out partying at the Main Street Arts Fesival.

This a picture of the turtle my Mom gave me for my birthday last year. The dianthus was one of our "annuals" that came back this year. It was in a box like the one on top of the bench in the next picture but the box was busted from the hail.

This is the the trellis I attached to the end of the bench and my new tomato plant. The planter box on top of the bench has a bunch of baby dianthus plants coming in, but you can't see them from this angle.

There's my first little tomato. The plant on the left has four tiny babies now.

This picture was taken on Sunday afternoon. Early Monday evening it started pouring rain. Then the wind started going crazy and the next day all that was left of the umbrella was this:

I didn't mention it before because it seems like all I was talking about lately was the weather. Speaking of weather, when I got this last set of pictures, I still didn't have the hailstone pictures. There was ANOTHER disposable camera! It still has a lot of film left, so I guess those pictures will have to wait.

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I probably mentioned before about a possible trip to New York. It is now a done deal. I'll be there the weekend of June 8-10. We'll be staying at the Soho Grand. I looked it up on the internet and it is VERY NICE, but I must have laughed for 20 minutes when I read through the amenities:

"If travelers cannot bring their pets, the Soho Grand offers surrogate animal companionship in the form of a goldfish in your guestroom."

Sick Day for My Sweetie

My Sweetie started feeling poorly yesterday and by last night he was full-blown sick. He stayed home from work today. He sounds terrible and even had a fever, poor guy. The thing is, when he stays home sick I always feel unusually productive, so I got A LOT done. I tackled two projects that I needed to get to. One of them was hanging a corkboard in my laundry room. I'm very sentimental and hang onto all sorts of souvenirs like tickets to shows, movies, sports events and museums. I also keep postcards. Keeping stuff like that in a box is not very gratifying because I can't see it. On the other hand, that stuff can be pretty junky looking, so about two years ago I came up with the idea of a corkboard in my laundry room. Laundry rooms are generally not very entertaining. They are places where we HAVE to spend time doing chores. So about two years ago I got my board started. It filled up pretty quickly. Today I added a second board just for postcards, so I was able to spread out the tickets and things on the other one. It really IS nice to be in there doing laundry and be surrounded by these little pieces of paper that bring back pleasant memories. As for My Sweetie, I think he should stay home again tomorrow, but he's a bit of a workaholic, so I guess it's a "wait and see" situation. Although I hope he feels better, I kinda hope he will stay home so I can get more projects done.

The Camera Story

I've mentioned before that i should get a digital camera. Well here's what's going on with my cameras and pictures and whatnot. I take all of my pictures with disposable cameras. I have a perfectly nice Pentax elfina camera. Perfectly nice except it makes me look like I weigh 250 pounds. Two or three Christmases (is that a word?) ago, we were finishing up a disposable camera and the Pentax so My Sweetie took a bunch of pictures of Lolo and me in front of the Christmas tree. Well the difference was CRAZY! Like 75 pounds of crazy! Seriously. They are practically the same pictures, but side by side? Not-slim me vs. grossly obese me. I would show you the difference, but I am too vain to show the Pentax ones. Since those were developed I have only used disposable cameras for people pictures. Well going back to that, the reason I did not post my hail pictures is because apparently we had TWO disposable cameras floating around the house. One of them was not finished, so I got only the one developed on Friday. There were FOUR great pictures of My Sweetie and me from his birthday downtown, but since he does not want to be seen, there is no point in posting those. The cute picture that I thought was taken of my daughter and myself that night? Well, either I imagined that or someone else there took that with their own camera (or phone or whatever). There was one odd picture of Kate and me standing onstage behind My Sweetie at the Karaoke bar. I have no idea what that was about. Anyway, there were 11 left on the other camera, so I took several pictures of my new tomato plant and my newly cleaned deck (I did that on Saturday), so I should be able to get that film developed soon. Yeah, I really do need to get a digital camera. This is just getting silly.

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I had a perfect Mother's Day in that it went exactly as I imagined (how often does THAT happen?). My Sweetie dropped me off at Kate's - actually my Mom's house. In case I haven't mentioned it, Kate lives there now because my parents spend most of their time at their retirement place in North Carolina. Kate made a giant spread of everything you might want for chicken tacos. Before that we watched a movie (Big Business) that we used to love watching together when she was younger. It was a great day. It was like having another birthday. Oh I've explained this all out of order. My Sweetie dropped me off, we chatted, watched the movie, then My Sweetie came back for dinner with us. And we watched the "Survivor" finale. And I forgot to take pictures until the very end of the night. I think I took one of Kate. I REALLY need to get a digital camera.

Moms

This seemed an appropriate picture for a Mother's Day post. This represents 4 generations of Mothers and Daughters. If I had to guess, and well I guess I do, I'd guess it was taken in late spring or early summer of 1991. The lady in pink is my grandmother who died last summer. She was not a pleasant lady. She had 5 children and obviously favored the eldest two: her only son and her first of four daughters. My Mom was the middle child. My parents met when Mom was 14 and Dad 16. My Dad was a very domineering and jealous person, but Mom actually preferred him to my grandmother and so they were married in 1955, just after she turned 17. My brother was born in July of 1957 and I came along in April 1961. I remember my first memory of my Mom. Dad had gotten my brother and I up very early to decorate the kitchen for Mom's birthday. I remember sensing the excitement and trying to figure out what was going on. Mom worked nights and would be coming in very early from work. She walked in, we yelled, "Surprise!" and I remember thinking, "Oh, THAT'S Mom." (She hates that story.) It seems she worked nights and slept during the day. We had a lady that stayed at the house during the day to clean and watch my brother and me. Like a duck I had attached to my brother and he is the first person I have clear memories of. In all fairness to my Mom, I was probably either 1 1/2 or 2/12 when that birthday party took place and was just starting up the synapses in my brain.
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We were not close when I was a kid. Mom always worked and when she wasn't working she had to be a wife. My Dad set all of the rules and those were the rules. Dad made all decisions regarding the children although Mom was allowed to cook for us. And do our laundry when we were very young. She had no interest in my friends or my Barbies. I remember one summer night when I was 12, I came in around 10:00 or 10:30. Dad was in the Dominican Republic for the summer. My brother was 16 and was who knows where. The house was quiet. Mom walked out of her room and said, "Where have you been?" I said, "Jeanette's. I'm always at Jeanette's." She said, "Do you always stay out this late?" I remember thinking it was the oddest question. Later she told me she thought she may have been suffering from depression that summer.
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At the end of that summer, my Dad changed careers and that November we moved to a much larger town 70 miles away. The pressures of his new job and the lifestyle changes took their toll on him over the next few years and he became more abusive to my Mom than ever before. In the spring of 1976, Mom finally made her escape. My brother was away in the Air Force and was kept in the dark about all of this until almost Christmas because "they didn't want to upset him." Meanwhile as part of Mom's escape plan, she accused him of asault (he did) and took out a restraining order so that he could not come back to our apartment. Unfortunately, Mom was in another town and the only person in the apartment was me, trying to finish up 9th grade. My Dad called my boyfriend's mom and they took me in for several weeks until Dad could find a place for us to live. So my first important shopping trip for a dress-up gown, for the Drama Club event at The Village Dinner Theater (we saw "Oliver!") was done with Mrs. York. Also I was in a play that ran for three nights and no one came. The last night of the play I burst into tears. No one knew what was going on except my friend Joan, who was also in the play. She told everyone and they all gave me their flowers. Man I felt so pathetic. It was sweet of everyone. Even the popular cheerleaders, who played saloon girl extras, gave me their flowers.
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There was no custody hearing or anything. I just knew I had to live with my Dad or my Mom would never be free. She needed a clean break and that couldn't happen if I were with her. I knew Dad would use me as an excuse to see Mom. I didn't see her a lot after that. She stopped by Sears a few times when I worked there when I was 16 and she once came to see me sing (in school chorus) at the mall near her apartment. Sometimes when my High School Boyfriend and I were going to Chapel Hill, we would stop by Mom's to say hi and a few times she invited me over for dinner. Then at the beginning of my senior year she called to tell me she was moving to Texas.
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I was already spiraling down into my anorexia when I got this news. I went to school for half a day, went to work at a job I hated (selling shoes at Montgomery Ward) and took ballet once a week. My diet consisted of a small glass of orange juice every morning with a vitamin and during the day, crushed ice. I did drink Pepsi, so I guess I was getting some calories there. When I felt hungry, I ate crushed ice. Sometimes I would eat some lettuce. I think Dad noticed something but didn't handle it well. I would come in around 10:00 at night and he would say he had made dinner and make me a plate. I would push it around and he would yell at me so I would cry and go to my room. In early January, I called my Mom and asked if I could come to live with her. I posted some of that here.
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After my freshman year at UNCG, I spent the summer with Mom. I was a chicken and didn't tell her until near the end of the summer that I wasn't going back to school. She did not take that news well and we were not getting along very well, so I went back to N.C. to live with my Dad. That's why I was in N.C. for the car accident. That next summer I came back to Texas for good. I went to the community college at night and worked for my step-dad full time during the day. At the end of that school year, when I was 21, I finally moved out on my own (okay, well, with a guy). The next year, I met Kate's dad and moved in with my brother and him. I got pregnant that winter and Mom was okay with it. One of her country club friends gave me a baby shower! I knew Mom did not like kids, so in an attempt to create some bonding, I named my daughter after my mother. The biggest surprise of my life came after the baby was born. My Mom, who is terrified of freeways, drove over to my house in Dallas every morning to help me. She would leave just before my husband got home, with dinner cooking and instructions on how to finish everything. She was awesome and I think that's when our adult bond as mother and daughter truly began.
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With the exception of my two divorces, we have not had any bumpy times and have become the best of friends. (Yeah Mom gets mad at me when I leave a husband - fortunately that won't happen again!) I really love my Mom and I'll miss her a lot on Sunday. They will be back in a couple of weeks and I did send her a nice gift. I want to mention that when I started this post, I did not mean for it to go in this direction and be so revealing, but that's where it went and that's where it will stay. I hope everyone has a wonderful Mother's Day weekend.

Some Follow-ups

I thought I'd post some follow-ups on stuff from former posts. About that trellis I attached to the end of the built-in bench on my deck: I put a large square container there and planted two container tomato plants in it. They are doing well and one has a little tomato already about the size of a large grape. I have no (memorable) experience with tomatoes. My first husband and I grew some in the ground back in 1986, but I guess he did all the work. Or I just don't remember much about it. My SIL stopped by on Sunday and told me we should get some special tomato plant food. I was just going to use miracle grow, but maybe I will check out this special food. I also planted verbena in a pot by the mailbox. We have a brick mailbox with a built-in planter, but I have never been able to grow anything there, so I put a pretty pot in there. We also had an odd spot in a bed out front where a bush used to be. I put a squat wide flower pot there with zinnias. They are doing well. Now I just need to take care of the rest of the backyard.
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The tendonitis in my shoulder seemed to be improving and then last night as I was reaching for something I had a sharp stabbing pain that made me cry out. That has happened many times today and is annoying as hell. This has put a crimp in things such as yard work and painting.
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About the painting: The base green is on, I just need to touch up spots that came up with the tape. I was going to do that on Saturday and then sponge on Sunday, but it was too humid. And I was tired from all of the noise and mess because of the roofing.
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The roofing: Our phone rang at 6:58 a.m. Saturday morning and since I had been asleep approximately 3 hours, I was in no shape to properly answer the phone. Then it rang AGAIN!!! It was our neighbor the roofer who asked if we could move my truck so they could park a trailer there. And they were out there waiting! They started a little before 8:00. It was noisy as hell, but I made myself sleep through it. I had really weird dreams, though. Because of the clear skylight in the master bathroom, we couldn't use that one all day. We now have a new roof, three new skylights and a new vent thing (for the attic fan) - another good thing if we ever have to sell the house. It was drizzly outside and with the skylight being off at times it was WAY too humid in the house to paint, so I will do all that next weekend.
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I'm going to drop off two rolls of film on Wednesday so I hope to have some good pictures to post at the end of the week. I'm looking forward to seeing the pics of the hailstones in the backyard and the pictures from My Sweetie's birthday downtown. I think there may be a good one of my daughter and me.
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The dress: Yeah that dress I ordered was a major disappointment. 1) it was not tapered at all like in the picture. It was one big rectangle with sleeves. and 2) the material was thin and cheap. If it had cost $15, I would keep it and have it tailored, but it just was not worth the price I paid, so back it goes. Sigh.
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I think that was everything that has been left hanging. If I forgot something, just ask.

By Request

Josie wanted to hear my "Red Truck Story." It's my only metaphysical experience. Here it is:
The custody arrangement for my daughter gave her dad summer custody. I got Kate every other weekend and for "up to 10 days of my choosing." It was summer, and it was my weekend, so on an early Friday evening, I hit the road to head for southeast Dallas. It was about a 39 mile trip during rush hour heading east on Hwy 30. There was a place I always stopped for beers (it was actually legal to drink and drive here back then) that was just a few miles from my house. This little store was just off of 820 south. I grabbed my beer and headed down the service road to get back on the highway. At the top of the hill before the access ramp was a 4-way stop. To the left is a bridge that crosses 820. Because of the hill of the service road and the arc of the bridge you really couldn't see much on the bridge. I pulled up to the 4-way stop, stopped and looked to my left. A large van pulled up at the same time. I was on a one-way service road so I only had two directions to check: my left and my right. There was no one on the right and just the van from the bridge on my left. This is where it starts to get weird.
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I've ALWAYS been one of those people that when at a 4-way stop, when the order is fuzzy, I shoot a certain look at the other driver and take off. Well, I looked at that driver and didn't move. Then my internal voice said, "What are you doing?" Then I looked at that driver again and they were looking at ME funny. So again, I was thinking "Why aren't you going? Why are you just sitting here?!?" It was like my brain couldn't figure out why my foot was not moving to press the accelerator and it was confusing the hell out of me. Then a small red truck came barreling through the intersection crossing right in front of me. They were in the lane to the left of the large van. I never saw that truck come across the bridge. I didn't see it until it flew right in front of me at about 45 or 50 mph.
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The van driver and I met eyes. We both had crazy eyes. I waved her through. Then I very carefully pulled through and very cautiously entered the highway. I was SO shaken up. I kept replaying that moment over and over in my head. If I had just proceeded as usual, that red truck would have slammed RIGHT INTO ME. And then: What made me hesitate? Why was I frozen and confused? WHERE DID THAT COME FROM? Although I was careful for the rest of that drive, I felt safe. I KNEW it wasn't my day to die.

Just another wacky Wednesday

As usual, my Wednesday was long, but it was all really funny to me. It started out bad. The phone rang 10 minutes before my alarm was to go off (don't you HATE that?) and it was the insurance claims lady. I've mentioned before (probably 800 times) that I AM NOT a morning person. She was all explaining stuff and asked for the name of our mortgage company. I felt stupid for not knowing. I've had various fiscal responsibilities in my 3 marriages from doing everything to doing nothing, and I'm at the doing nothing phase again. So I told her to call My Sweetie at work and then I couldn't think of his number and had to get out of bed and go all the way across the house to find it on my cell phone. I bet she was rolling her eyes the whole time. MOW went fine, "Lenny" was back home from the hospital (he had had diabetic complications) and my 97-year-old lady was out of bed and sitting in a chair for the first time in a month. You know the old saying, "out of the mouths of babes?" well "and very old people" should be added to that. She seemed so happy to see me and then looked at me funny and in her thick accent said, "Why does your face look fat?" Her son seemed embarrassed, but I thought it was hilarious. I said, "Well I do feel kind of bloated. My rings felt a little tight when I put them on." I thought that would be the end of that. Then HE said, "Are you having your period?" Oh. My. God. I still can't believe he said that. I just looked at him cooly and said something like, "Pfffft, I'm too old for that."
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Yesterday, Lolo and I were discussing the pros and cons of having a camera phone. Then I saw something today and decided I need to get one. Two houses down from one of my MOW stops was a house with EXTERNAL bamboo blinds. That was weird. I have got to get a camera phone. Speaking of phones, I sent my second ever text message today which was "call me" and it took me about 15 minutes. I did figure out how to put the space in there, so I was pretty proud of myself. Slow and steady wins the race. That's my new mantra. I find it very calming.
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I always stop at this dive bar for two beers before I go to lunch and the bartender who is A YEAR YOUNGER than my daughter was in there with her 12-day-old baby. The crazy old man from last week came in while I was over looking at the baby and sat in MY seat. I said, "You're in my seat!" and he moved. He's very odd. Just as I was leaving he said he had five children aged 7 to 33. That was too weird. I wish I had not told him I was there every Wednesday. I have a feeling he will be there every Wednesday now. He's okay, he just has weird mannerisms. At least he gave up the barstool.
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I went to Friday's for lunch and ended up in a rousing trivia game (the NTN game) with the bartender and another man. The bartender kinda reminds me of Cheech (and/or Chong). He was pretty serious about his trivia though. And the other man had the most annoying voice. If I had to guess, he was one of those 60's hippies. He spoke in a flat monotone and spoke QUITE OFTEN. I kept expecting him to add "dude" at the end of each sentence. Oh, and I won all the trivia games.
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I went to Italianni's after that and found out my favorite old bartender is back (he had moved to Colorado). I also invented a great drink. I think I'll call it a "Washington Apple Splash." It's a Washington Apple on ice with a splash of club soda. Yummy. It was so funny when I asked the new bartender (not the Colorado guy) if he had met my daughter yet. Two different people said, "She was in here Monday night." Small world. My Sweetie called and asked where I was. He was freaking out because there was another tornado watch. I wasn't worried because it was very light outside.
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I hit the grocery store on the way home (shudder), made it home, and shortly thereafter we started with "The Weather" again. All of the local channels were discussing 90 mph winds and tornado conditions. My Sweetie was freaking out, but after that hail storm from hell, none of it bothers me anymore. I was on the phone with my friend Kim (see side note*) and my daughter called on my cell phone. She was concerned about "the weather" and had a long drive home. I told her to stop by to wait it out. Sure enough, it started to get bad. There was no hail and no tornado but the straight line winds and flooding caused LOTS of damage. It was weird seeing all the cars in the water on the news. Who are these people that drive into water? Flooding kills more people than any other weather condition. Geeez.
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I'm sure I left out a bunch of stuff I'll think of later, but on *A SIDE NOTE: I got a gift box from my friend Kim yesterday. It had three smaller boxes inside. I was on the phone with Lolo as I opened the boxes. The first box had a really cool cell phone holder/clip with a Duke logo. The second box had a lovely gardenia-scented candle. I opened the third box and said, "What the hell is this? It looks like drug paraphanalia?" I described it to Lolo and we had a good laugh. It was a ceramic ring that you place on a light bulb and gardenia-scented oil to pour into the ring. Seriously, if you've never seen that type of thing before, you'd be confused, too.
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One last thing: Blood Diamond: Good movie.